Last month, we learned about the plans of La Salle Greenhills (LSGH) opening their gates to female senior high school students. LSGH president Bro. Edmundo L. Fernandez, FSC, confirmed this, saying that he hopes that with this transition, “the boys become a bit more like gentlemen.” We previously wrote about this since we believe that women aren’t tools for the improvement of men’s behavior. “Girls are their own persons; especially at the tender high school age, girls have a lot of growing they have to do on their own.”
A writer for When In Manila also wrote about this in an article about toxic masculinity in exclusive all-boys schools, which caught the attention of some LSGH alumni. In a post on an LSGH alumni Facebook group, an alumnus shared a screenshot of the writer’s post, sharing the article on her profile, inviting fellow alumni to report her Facebook account to “teach” a lesson. The post also showed the alumnus repeatedly calling the writer a “bimbo.”
This met a lot of backlash outside the LSGH alumni Facebook group, especially from other writers who sympathized with the alumnus’ target. Many also noted the irony in responding with a sexist tirade to defend an institution from allegations of harboring sexism and toxic masculinity.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen women calling out the patriarchy/toxic masculinity be met with threats. After Sen. Hontiveros spoke up about the bills she authored to help address women’s plights, the Preen Sessions livestream last 2017 was littered with comments saying she should be raped, among other threats.
Let this be a reminder that we shouldn’t raise our children with misogynistic values and instead show them the importance of equality. After all, it starts at home and in school.
Art by Dana Calvo
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